Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World,
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast ~
World, you are beautifully drest.
William Brighty Rands’ poem continues:
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree,
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
You friendly Earth! how far do you go,
With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow,
With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
Ah, you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,
A whisper inside me seemed to say,
“You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot:
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!”
Although I believe that the Earth is indeed mysteriously alive, the essence here is that physical size cannot compare to the human ability to love and think, both of which are boundless. This poem holds a special place in my heart as I taught it to my young sons many years ago. I can still picture them reciting it with a tone of awe in their voices, raising their little arms ~ at the word “wide” ~ in a big embrace.
For more about William Brighty Rands (1823-1882), visit this site where you can also hear an English recitation of the poem (click “Selected Poems” tab).
This week’s image and thumbnail: February in Carmel.
